San Diego Hot Rum Series II Report

(San Diego, CA)- The second race of the three-race long Hot Rum Series was a bit of an improvement over the first weekend’s light-air affair. This time, most of the fleet finished the iconic race course that started just off Shelter Island, exited south past Point Loma to offshore buoys in the Pacific Ocean, then back inside the harbor to the finish line next to Shelter Island.

Hosted by San Diego Yacht Club for decades, the Hot Rum Series has been a popular pursuit race for J/Boats offshore sailors for decades.

Using the PHRF SoCal ratings, the slowest boats start first at 10:00 AM, and by noon, the biggest, fastest boats have started. Given the normal scenario for developing winds on San Diego Bay, it takes some time for the seabreeze thermal to develop over the top of Point Loma. As a result, it’s usually the big boats that benefit from a late start with decent breeze. Here are the latest divisional results after the first two weekends of sailing.

PHRF 2 Division
Continuing to lead this nine-boat fleet is a pair of fast, well-sailed J/145s. First is Rudy Hasl’s J/145 PALAEMON with a 1-1 tally for 2 pts. Then, sitting in third is Alec Oberschmidt’s AARRRGG with a 2-4 for 6 pts.

PHRF 4 Division
This fifteen-boat fleet still has Mike Hatch’s J/105 J-ALMIGHTY leading quite handily with a 1-1 for 2 pts. Bennett Greenwald & Dave Vieregg’s J/105 PERSEVERANCE posted a 4-3 for 7 pts to move into third position. Then, George Roland & Johannes Neuendorf’s J/105 JALOPY has a 3-5 record for 8 pts to hang on to fourth place.

PHRF 5 Division
In this large twenty-boat fleet, Ed Sanford’s J/111 CREATIVE has a 4-5 scoreline for 9 pts that puts them in third place. Meanwhile, Brion Murray’s J/122 PRONTO 122 raced up the ladder with an 8-2 tally for 10 pts to sit in fourth place, just one point off the podium!

For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information
https://sdyc.org/